TEENAGE hairdresser Sophie McGuiness is a cut above after winning her company’s Apprentice of the Year title.

Kenny Edwards, managing director of Kenneth Edwards Hairdressing in Paisley and Johnstone, launched a competition to find the best of his talented young team.

Kenny asked his apprentices to create an avant-garde look with no restrictions and they were given an hour to come up with their look – including hair, make-up and styling.

The apprentices then showcased their looks and made a short presentation to describe their look and its inspiration through mood boards. Judges Lee Abercrombie and Audrey McAllistair, of Calico Hair in Glasgow, were extremely impressed by what they saw.

Lee said: “The standard was excellent from all of the competitors and there was great creativity and flair in each of the creations, which was very impressive.”

Sophie, 18, won with her candy theme, which was modelled by 17-year-old Amy Coyle. Sophie explained: “To create the look for my candy theme I used a curl to create a candy-floss type texture and pinned the hair into a cone shape, before teasing it out at the end so that it didn’t look quite so set.

“I then used props such as a striped cane to make the style visually appear like candy floss on a stick, and pinned in real sweets. For my model’s make up I used bright colours on her eyes and huge eyelashes, and on her lips I used hundreds and thousands – again with real candy so that she really looked the part.

“It was a great look for my candy-floss girl!”

Sophie was handed a trophy and a case of goodies including £200 worth of hair accessories and she will now be involved in the salon’s art team and future photographic shots.

The runner-up prize of a stylist toolcase went to Nyomi Mowles, 18, with model Charlene O’Malley, 21 and her Geisha theme.

The competition took place in Kenny’s salon in Orchard Street, Paisley, and he said: “I am delighted that the event was such as success, and I am very proud of the hard work that all of the apprentices put in to create their looks.

“When I was an apprentice I entered competitions all of the time, but sadly nowadays there are very few locally so I thought, why not start one of our own?”